A Sprayable Antimicrobial Wound Dressing for Burn Treatment in the Battlefield
Abstract
This proposal addresses the Fiscal Years 2019 and 2020 (FY19/20) Military Burn Research Program Idea Development Award (MBRP IDA) Focus Area "Coverage." We are developing a personalized temporary coverage dressing that can easily be applied by both medical and non-medical first-responders in the battlefield for pre-treatment of large second- and third-degree burn wounds. We will compare the proposed dressing with a commercially available product known as "WaterJel." Our innovative wound dressing will promote healing, prevent infection and further morbidity or mortality, and benefit the burn casualty in prolonged field care (PFC). Because access to medical care can be significantly delayed in combat zones, a wound coverage dressing that is rapidly effective is immensely useful. The proposed wound dressing will be immediately applied to the burn area via spraying, protect the wound, provide soothing effect helping with pain control, prevent infections, and speed up the healing process by covering the wound from the time of the injury to up to 2 weeks. The results of the proposed research will provide burn solutions closer to the point of injury for wounded Service members, Veterans, first responders, and civilians in the pre-hospital care of the severe burn casualty. The ultimate applicability of the proposed research includes burn patients from military or civilian populations. The proposed wound dressing is highly convenient to use in resource-limited settings such as the battlefield, decentralized care centers, remote locations, and non-clinical facilities. It can also be easily utilized in fully equipped hospital settings as well. Our sprayable, personalized, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory hydrogel-based wound dressing will be useful for rapid treatment in austere combat zones for second- and third-degree burns until an appropriate care unit can surgically treat the patient. To achieve this goal, we will synthesize a sprayable wound dressing and characterize the antimicrobial efficiency and biocompatibility of the dressing, and assess the efficacy of the dressing in a pig burn wound model. We will first optimize the formulation of the dressing, then test the antimicrobial activity using the most commonly found bacteria affecting burn wounds, and test the healing quality and period in an animal study using pigs. The proposed research provides a solution for the existing problem of lack of efficient methods to treat second- and third-degree deep tissue burns by non-burn specialists in the war zones. Both medical and non-medical first responders can easily spray our hydrogel dressing on the burned tissue to provide full protection immediately. The application of the sprayable dressing is conveniently simple and does not require highly trained personnel to administer. The ultimate goal is to provide successful treatment for deep burn wounds for Service members, Veterans, and those within the general public. The proposed project will accelerate progress in medical research for military members after traumatic combat-related burn injuries. In addition to burn wounds, we anticipate that the proposed dressing can also be useful for healing of other wounds that are commonly seen in war zones. The sprayable dressing can be applied on burns of any size, anywhere, without any contact, eliminating risk of infection via handling. The temporary coverage dressing avoids the need to come into direct contact with the wound. It is a simple personalized burn pre-treatment to be used in resource-limited settings. The sprayed hydrogel solution easily adjusts to the morphology of the wound creating a personalized dressing. The color of the product is transparent, which makes it easy to observe the condition of the burn wound at any time. The hydrogel dressing acts as a protective film on the burn wound protecting it from environmental factors. Because the dressing is stable on the wound up to 2 weeks, no pain
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 10, 2021
- Source ID
- W81XWH2010521
Entities
People
- Gulden Camci-Unal
Organizations
- United States Army
- University of Massachusetts Lowell